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Or see him seek the distant sounding shore His soul delighted with the dashing roar; Or when young summer mantles o'er the earth And warm with life gives every flowret birth, See him muse lonely o'er the village green, And view with rapture each reviving scene, Snatch his quick pencil and with fervour trace Transporting Nature in her wildest grace,* "The Tay meand'ring in his infant pride, "The palace rising on his verdant side, "The lawns wood-fring'd in Nature's simple taste, "The hillocks dropt in Nature's careless haste, "The arches striding o'er the running stream, "The village glittering in the noontide beam, "The sweeping theatre of hanging woods, "Th' incessant roar of headlong-tumbling floods."

Friend's Unfortunate Amour....his Lament on the Death of the Earl of Glencairn....his Vision....and the Petition of Bruar Water will be lasting monuments of his talents. The history of this bard, written by Dr. Currie, and prefixed to his elegant edition of his works is a composition extremely pleasing, and possesses biographical merit of the very first order.

* The lines which are quoted, with little variation, are vaken from Burns.

See him arouse his heaven-instructed lyre, 291

And look through Nature, with creative fire!
With feeling heart attune his melting strain,
And sing the manners of the simple swain.

Say in what clime does Genius love to dwell, Where sounds the sweetest her enchanting shell? Do climates change the bias of the mind,

Are all her powers by earth or air inclin'd? ....Seldom will Genius dwell with unsun'd snows,

Or on the lap of burning heat repose;

Seldom she seeks the deep terrific shade,

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Where Culture's footsteps never press'd the glade,
Incessant cold chills her impetuous course

And melting suns destroy her active force.
In endless solitude her powers decay
Imagination sickens, dies away:

To social life Man every comfort owes,

There Fancy brightens, Emulation glows.

There Joy is born and Friendship's healing charm, And Sorrow leans on Love's supporting arm; 310 Compassion binds with silken ties the heart,

And Union links the varied forms of Art.

...The human fabrick early from its birth

Feels some fond influence from its parent Earth:

In different regions different forms we trace,
Here dwells a feeble, there an iron race;
Here Genius lives and wakeful Fancies play,
Here noiseless Stupor sleeps its life away.
A rugged race the cliffs and mountains bear,
They leap the precipice and breast the air,
Follow the chamois on the pointed rock,

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And clamber heights to seek their bearded flock.
Loud from the Baltic* sounds the dreadful storm

And gathering hosts the face of day deform:
Beneath their rage the soft Italian yields

His boasted laurels and his blooming fields.
The wandering Tartars† by their rigorous land,
Were led to war, to victory and command.

The German nations who bordered on the Baltic coast have always been distinguished for their emigration and warlike disposition. The classical reader will recollect the Teutones and Cimbri who united their forces, which amounted to 300,000 men, and invaded the Roman territories; Ariovistus and his German bands, the invaders of Gaul; the Suevi, the Goths, the Vandals and the Lombards who made numerous irruptions into the Roman empire.

†The climate of the Tartars, and their mode of life were such as to harden and invigorate their constitutions:

While southern climes were sunk in deep repose, (An easy conquest to invading foes.)

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They call'd to arms their sanguine flag unfurl'd

And spread their conquests o'er the wondering world....

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Where spreads the quiet and luxuriant vale, Forever fan'd by Spring's ambrosial gale, Where over pebbles runs the limpid rill And woods o'er-shade the wildly-sloping hill: There roves the swain, all-gentle and serene, And guards his sheep while browsing on the green. He leads the dance by Cynthia's silver light And lulls with sport the dusky ear of Night; 340 Breathes from his pipe the dulcet strain of Love And warbles Ellen thro' the mead and grove. ....In those drear climes where scorching suns prevail,

And Fever rides the tainted burning gale;

Where draws the giant-snake his loathsome train, And poisons with his breath the yellow plain;

Their disputes for water in a country without land-marks, the skirmishes between the rival clans, taught them skilfulness in war.

There languid Pleasure waves her gilded wings
And slothful Ease the mental power unstrings.
....Where Iceland spreads her dark and frozen wild
On whose fell snows no cheering sun-beam smil'd,
There in their stormy, cold, and midnight cell 351
The cheerless fishermen with Stupor dwell,
Wrapt in their furs they slumber life away
And mimic with their lamps the light of day....
Chill thro' his trackless pines the hunter-pass'd,
His yell arose upon the howling blast:

Before him fled with all the speed of fear
His wealth and victim, yonder helpless deer.
Saw you the savage-man, how fell and wild,
With what grim pleasure as he pass'd he smil'd?
Unhappy man! a wretched wigwam's shed

Is his poor shelter, some dry skins his bed;
Sometimes alone upon the woodless height

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He strikes his fire and spends his watchful night;
His dog with howling bays the moon's red-beam
And starts the wild-deer in his nightly dream........
Poor savage-man, for him no yellow grain
Waves its bright billows o'er the fruitful plain;
For him no harvest yields its full supply

When Winter hurls his tempests thro' the sky. 370

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